What's the difference between dainty and neat?

Dainty


Definition:

  • (n.) That which is delicious or delicate; a delicacy.
  • (n.) A term of fondness.
  • (n.) Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything.
  • (superl.) Rare; valuable; costly.
  • (superl.) Delicious to the palate; toothsome.
  • (superl.) Nice; delicate; elegant, in form, manner, or breeding; well-formed; neat; tender.
  • (superl.) Requiring dainties. Hence: Overnice; hard to please; fastidious; squeamish; scrupulous; ceremonious.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Had they bothered to inquire of a veteran from the ranks, they might have heard how exasperating it is to see the dainty long-range patriots of Labour thrashing it out with the staunch gutter jingoists of the Conservative party – and barely a non-commissioned vet among them.
  • (2) Across this relatively peaceful corner of the Horn of Africa, where black-headed sheep scamper among the thorn bushes, dainty gerenuk balance on their hind legs to nibble from hardy shrubs, and skinny camels wearing rough-hewn bells lumber over rocky slopes, people long accustomed to a harsh environment find they cannot cope after years of below-average rainfall.
  • (3) That was the week when the Bake Off contestants were called on to make dainty biscuits and elaborate gingerbread concoctions, following previous showdowns over who could make the fluffiest muffins and the creamiest custard tarts.
  • (4) His dainty close control was beautiful and took him past both Pique and Puyol; then, from 10 yards, he deliberately poked the ball wide of Casillas with his right foot, and it came flush off the post.
  • (5) Ighalo clearly had the beating of Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala, while Touré, playing in a midfield two alongside Fernandinho, had his ego pricked by a couple of dainty touches from José Manuel Jurado.
  • (6) Their denial fits perfectly with their support for free market economics, opposition to state intervention and hatred of all those latte-slurping, quinoa-munching liberals, with their arrogant manners and dainty hybrid cars, who presume to tell honest men and women how to live.
  • (7) From the outset, Arsenal had been the more sprightly and inventive, and that pattern continued when Cesc Fábregas clipped a dainty ball over the Spurs defence for Nasri to chase.
  • (8) Muamba dinked a deft reverse pass to Cattermole, who slipped a dainty ball behind the German defence in anticipation of a surge by Walcott.
  • (9) They are laughing at the dainty affectations of the Leawoof toffs.
  • (10) After a semi-final that saw platters of immaculate choux swans, jewel-coloured macaroons and dainty sponges put before the judges, the technical challenge – a stand of sweet fondant fancies, nestled, pink and delicious as if awaiting a party of angelic children – was a reminder that even a GBBO finalist still needs the guidance of Berry.
  • (11) Balotelli peeled off his marker to run on to it and then, from 10 yards, tried to lift a dainty lob over the advancing goalkeeper ... but it was the finish of a dilletante rather than a deadly striker and the ball dropped meekly wide.
  • (12) StickmanLA Life at the old soldiers' hotel In drama, seaside hotels are usually inhabited by retired colonels and majors in blazers, and dainty elderly ladies.
  • (13) From her oddly dainty presence that voice, a voice that seemed not to come from her but from somewhere beyond even Billie and Ella, from the font of all greatness.
  • (14) In person she is dainty, almost exaggeratedly ladylike, and much more playfully ambivalent than the public debate about her book.
  • (15) On Friday, Johnson and Dan Hannan said that in all probability the number of foreigners coming here won’t fall I am not going to be over-dainty about mendacity.
  • (16) Perhaps now is the time to reach for altogether plainer tableware and glasses, for Kaj Frank bowls at one end of the price range, but more likely to Duralex tumblers at the other as we face a future of, as it were, porridge and tap water rather than the fine wines and dainty dishes it's hard not to associate with Waterford and Wedgwood.
  • (17) A mong the many strangers to personal daintiness in Game of Thrones is a character called Shagga son of Dolf.
  • (18) And it was a goal of impressive daintiness, to boot.
  • (19) 3.00am GMT Packers 21 - 49ers 21, 0:03 2nd quarter Kaepernick is a maniac - there is no dainty QB slide with him.
  • (20) Jason Puncheon did well to recycle the ball to Yohan Cabaye after Albion cleared a corner and the Frenchman floated a dainty cross over Dawson towards the back post.

Neat


Definition:

  • (n. sing. & pl.) Cattle of the genus Bos, as distinguished from horses, sheep, and goats; an animal of the genus Bos; as, a neat's tongue; a neat's foot.
  • (n.) Of or pertaining to the genus Bos, or to cattle of that genus; as, neat cattle.
  • (a.) Free from that which soils, defiles, or disorders; clean; cleanly; tidy.
  • (a.) Free from what is unbecoming, inappropriate, or tawdry; simple and becoming; pleasing with simplicity; tasteful; chaste; as, a neat style; a neat dress.
  • (a.) Free from admixture or adulteration; good of its kind; as, neat brandy.
  • (a.) Excellent in character, skill, or performance, etc.; nice; finished; adroit; as, a neat design; a neat thief.
  • (a.) With all deductions or allowances made; net. [In this sense usually written net. See Net, a., 3.]

Example Sentences:

  • (1) His bracelets and his hair, neatly gathered in a colourful elasticated band, contrast with his unflashy day-to-day uniform of checked shirts, jeans or cheap chinos and trainers.
  • (2) Ms neatly sidesteps the question of whether or not you are married.
  • (3) This instrument, a modification of a corneal trephine, provides a neat, smooth groove of adjustable depth.
  • (4) But it's still a neat model to watch – and admire.
  • (5) Pitched as a "smart" calendar, it's easy to create appointments and events, and ties in neatly with the developer's separate Any.do to-do lists app.
  • (6) Whether your greatest need is to have a neatly typed letter or an accurately aged accounts receivable report, or it's critical that you create an electronic medical record for decision support, the computer in the medical workplace should: 1.
  • (7) That would neatly end the “fellow traveller” veto, by putting both of the EU’s rogue states in special measures.
  • (8) His neat nails were polished like pebbles and his voice had a soothing, almost balsamic, tone.
  • (9) Toure then lofts a very neat ball over the defence and, though two City players are offside, Aguero is on.
  • (10) Addition of albumin to the serum inhibited the reactivity with both neat and drug-treated serum.
  • (11) Taylor, a sixty-something man with a neatly trimmed beard and a palpable pride in his business, has made "a couple of small sales" so far today, but footfall in the town is pretty underwhelming, and, in the market, almost non-existent.
  • (12) On one side of the road stands an orderly row of RDP houses, their gable ends neatly rendered in pastel shades of peach and tangerine.
  • (13) If his life unspools in the arch, neat fashion of one of his movies then the director Wes Anderson , who'll turn 45 this spring, is halfway through.
  • (14) It is related to physical and physiological factors that derive from the volume of tissue transplanted, the neatness of its fit into the wound, its supportive facilities, its functional activity, its relation to gravity, and the effect of its perimeter scar tissue bed and venous drainage system.
  • (15) Or as Rowan Blanchard , a 13-year-old actress, neatly put it, “the way a black woman experiences sexism and inequality is different from the way a white woman experiences sexism and inequality”.
  • (16) Photograph: Alan Richardson for the Guardian Watt’s wife, Johanna Basford, whose rise has neatly paralleled his (she is the author and illustrator of a phenomenally successful series of adult colouring books that have so far sold 15m copies) also told me at the launch: “They work harder than anyone I know.
  • (17) President Obama's speech on Thursday seemed to put a neat bow on the past four years.
  • (18) When Mohamed ElBaradei arrived in Midan Giza, a traffic-snarled interchange on the west bank of the Nile, for Friday prayers, he saw a graphic illustration of Egypt under President Hosni Mubarak: neat rows of police and plainclothes security officers lining the streets to maintain calm.
  • (19) Photograph: AFP Saint Laurent became an object of immediate fascination: quiet, timid, with neatly parted schoolboy hair, anxious eyes lurking behind thick glasses and a frail body encased in a tight black suit.
  • (20) Apart from an early chance for Nicklas Bendtner, who had one-twoed neatly with Cesc Fábregas, there was not a moment when Arsenal were properly in the game.